THE GRIZZLY BEAR <i> By Thomas McNamee (Penguin: $9.95, illustrated) </i>

In this sharp-edged blend of fact and fiction, Thomas McNamee uses one year in the life of a mother grizzly and her two cubs in Yellowstone Park as a vehicle for discussions of the evolution and biology of the grizzly bear (Ursa arctos horribilis), a history of the species’ interaction with man and the political issues surrounding its conservation. As Native American legends proclaimed, the grizzly shares numerous characteristics with man. Both animals are major predators and omnivores; they reproduce slowly and train their young extensively; they have no natural enemies except themselves and each other. But man has overrun the North American continent, while the grizzly occupies a fraction of its original range. McNamee pulls no punches as he lashes out at the hunters, ranchers and poachers who kill grizzlies--and the ineffective government bureaucrats who fail to enforce the laws protecting the bears. But he reserves his greatest scorn for the damn fools who feed grizzlies garbage, luring the animals to tourist sites while teaching them to look for food around man and not to fear him. Vivid, polemical and throughly entertaining, “The Grizzly Bear” is a fine example of contemporary environmental-advocacy writing.